Anyone else struggling to sell in London?

[alixpb]

I have a 2 bed flat in a good area of North London, admittedly it is expensive at £850 but I've been on since last September and it hasn't sold. I have had two offers in that time, one for more than it is on for now (I ended up lowering the price in the end) and the other for the asking price but both fell through due to their sales falling through. I've also had another person interested but again have to wait for them to sell so nothing will probably happen.

I'm wondering though how people are finding the market as I am literally getting few to no viewings and I've only recently changed agent. A couple of my friends who are selling admittedly cheaper properties in other areas have had their property sold within weeks but I'm still sitting here.

I know it's not price as I have actually had the most interest when it was on at it's highest price (£60,000 more than it's on at now) and since dropping the price twice I've had little to no interest.

I'm just interested to know whether this market is really slow and whether other people are also struggling. I'm wondering whether I'm actually going to ever get to move. A similar flat has also come on recently at £200,000 more than mine so I know my pricing is OK but there just doesnt' seem to be many people looking.

I'd be interested to hear other people's experiences.

I'm looking in north London for a two bed probably at the price bracket slightly below yours (around 700ish) and nothing is coming on, probably about 1 every 2 days.
What is on the market doesn't seem to be moving much either so I think it's just super slow.

You're absolutely right, other properties like mine around here have also been on for a while and don't seem to be budging. Sometimes though EA don't update the details even when properties are sold so they can sometimes give a false impression of what is sitting there when actually they have already been sold.

As there is less stock than usual I am surprised though that properties aren't being snapped up. I know that everything going right now can affect the market but if you want to move on with your life and move home then surely you're not going to wait for any period of stability and are going to move regardless.

There is still nervousness as to what Brexit will mean when it actually happens. there has then been nervousness about the election and what would happen if Labour were to get in (because less face it people buying a 2 bed flat for £850k are more likely to be higher than £80k earners).

Maybe you'll find it will settle down now. Or people may hang on a bit further because there is talk with it being so close there may be yet another election within a year.

Well the Prime Central London property market is in trouble. There's a huge amount of luxury flats coming on line from Nine Elms etc which will dilute values elsewhere. Foreign & domestic investors have gone. Do some googling and decide if you can tolerate a further reduction. EAs are very active on forums so you're better off doing your own research.

It does sound like there is still a lot of nervousness in the air which could still be affecting the market so thanks for your posts as it does all help. I think I'll chase up my agent next week now the election has happened although the result couldn't have been any worse for stability.

TBH I couldn't take another price reduction at this time as I'm already on lower than I'd like to be and I've already dropped it twice. For some reason each price drop has produced absolutely zero interest so it seems that dropping the price doesn't make a lot of difference in my case. Obviously I could drop it so low that it's abargain but I'd still probably only end up with one potential buyer who would want to offer under so its unlikely to generate a bidding war that would maybe get the asking price or even beyond.

Difficult price bracket.

Shit shit shit SHIT loads of new flats coming on line all over london.

High amount stamp duty.

Prime has been struggling for over a year.

Smaller market than for a nice house near a good school. It is more common at that price for people lookomg to move out of their 2 bed flat and into a house to have children.

Post a RM link if you're brave enough!

Have you got access to broker reports through work or know anyone who can? If so check out comontary for foxtons and other london exposed property companies plus all the house builders.

Some great points being raised.

I'm not really in the Prime sector as they tend to be more expensive than mine and usually new builds whereas mine is a period property right by the tube but I take the point about people looking for more than a two bed if children are potentially involved.

People I have had serious interest from have either been people on their own or from outside London who are looking for somewhere to buy which they can leave if they have to travel abroad a lot. That has tended to be who my property has appealed to however there's not that many people like that here. I will refrain from posting the link though as I am not brave enough plus don't want to lose any leverage if and hopefully when I get an offer.

Broker reports is a great idea, never occured to me and not sure my brain would understand them anyway but I did google Foxtons and I can see that they are massively down on last year but they are forecast to pick up slightly. This is assuming I'm reading it right which is probably unlikely.

I do have someone interested in the background but again they have to sell their property first. I think they live in Sussex and a lot cheaper so hopefully they'll find it easier to sell than me and then they can buy my property.

Tbh everything will sell at the right price even in the current market.
What are your reasons for selling?
That is obviously going to influence if you drop the your price or are happy to sit on it for a while.

Prime is price and nothing to do with new build or period, and I agree you aren't prime but prime gets into trouble first and it trickles down.

People I have had serious interest from have either been people on their own or from outside London who are looking for somewhere to buy which they can leave if they have to travel abroad a lot

IMO people doing that prefer blocks with concierge - much 'safer' to leave when you're away all the time.

A period property near a zone 1 or 2 tube will always sell if the price is right as long as it doesn't have anything 'wrong' with it.

If nobody wants to pay what you are asking then it's too expensive
It really is as simple as that
Either make it more attractive so more people want to pay what you are asking or drop the price. The market is slowing down. That's a Good Thing.

OP have you checked your £/sq foot versus the market?

Reasons for selling are purely because I'm leaving London, there is nothing wrong with the property at all (it's a great property) and the service charge is a fraction of other properties in the area as we do any work ourselves. I think we're zone three so more outer London.

It's on the first floor (there is a basement so it's almost two floors up) so is a very safe lockup property even though there is no concierge. I've lived here 20 years and there has never been a burglary or anything at all in any part of the building so it's a very very safe place to live.

Regarding people not wanting to pay what I'm asking, I do understand the argument which is why I have dropped the price twice. However I have had offers which I had accepted at the original price but their sales fell through and they still haven't sold so I lost out through circumstance rather than people not wanting to pay what I was asking.

Another lady about two months ago was deciding between my property and one other which she looked at for investement but she went with the other one in the end as it was empty and ready to go, I don't know what she would have offered though but again there was interest.
And recently as mentioned before my one viewing since changing agent has expressed interest in my property but have to sell their house in Sussex first and my agent told me that they had viewed about six properties in my area and they liked mine the most. Other than that though, I have had no further viewings.

For what it's worth a neighbour opposite has put there's on and it's pretty much the same as mine with an extra 100 sq feet and they have got theirs on for an additional £250,000!!

I'm hoping that there's being so expensive will drive some people my way.

OP have you checked your £/sq foot versus the market?
I just checked four other similar type properties immediately around me and mine is cheaper per square foot than the others on the market.

If you're not going to have to pay London prices for your next move then you should consider cutting your price down to a level where you will get a quick sale. In a falling market you have to keep ahead of the direction of the tide otherwise you'll be reducing it even more drastically in 6 months time and you'll get no apologies from the EAs. Of course, if the UK gets a quick deal on a soft BREXIT and China lifts its Capital controls and there's more QE then maybe things will improve. Do some research and come to a decision you can live with if the market turns either way.

Prime central London is reducing weekly now, only exceptional properties at a readjusted price get snapped up...surely this filters through?

And there's still really high asking prices coming through like your neighbour, but those stay on the shelf. For sure people will be driven to your property when they see you neighbours.

I agree with others if no offers then the price isn't right. If you had interest at a higher price for your property a few months ago and now nothing at a lower price...that is because the market keeps falling the situation has gotten worse rather than better.

£850k for a 2 bed flat in zone 3 north london.... Yikes.

Must be a lovely flat.

Unless your Hampstead or similar. Then I guess it's just kinda average.

Can you post a link?

Hampstead isn't even zone 3 it's zone 2. I can't even think of an area in zone 3 that would command that price unless your flat is particularly large or has something super special about it...

Apologies my mistake Hampstead is zone 2/3 and Highgate is zone 3 but these are areas that I'm looking and there are really nice flats on for 800ish so it may just be it's overpriced

I went to see a flat that had been reduced from 1 mill to 800 and still wasn't selling

Could you rent it out for a while until the market is more settled?

OP you keep clinging on to the fact that you had offers at the higher price in the past, but that was the PAST when the market was different... I realise it's an incredibly difficult concept to grasp but the property market can go DOWN as well as up.

Now is not a good time to sell, unless you really have to.

I'm the other side of London but I think the market is very slow right now in this kind of price bracket. IMO you have the choice of reducing price, staying put or renting out while things settle (though I don't know how long the latter will take).